History Literature / HanselAndGretel

* UnconventionalFoodUsage: The witch lives in a gingerbread house. It's implied to be a trap to lure in people, since [[ImAHumanitarian she tries to eat the protagonists]].

* ParentalAbandonment: The parents do this to their kids in the forest under pretense that they are only leaving briefly to gather some wood, their motive being that there will be more food for them during the famine occurring their country without the children.

!! Adaptions and works based upon "Hansel and Gretel":

* ''Literature/EnselUndKrete''
* ''Theatre/HanselAndGretel1893''
* ''VideoGame/GretelAndHansel''
* ''Film/HanselAndGretel2007''
* ''Film/HanselAndGretel2013''
** ''Film/HanselVsGretel''
* ''Film/HanselAndGretelGetBaked''
* ''Film/HanselAndGretelWitchHunters''
* ''Film/HanselAndGretelWarriorsOfWitchcraft''
* ''Film/GretelAndHansel2020'' (no relation to the above-mentioned game)
* ''Film/WhoeverSlewAuntieRoo''
* ''WesternAnimation/SecretMagicControlAgency''
* An episode of ''Series/{{Grimm}}''.
* An episode of ''Series/SechsAufEinenStreich''
* A Song of the ''Original Sin Arc'' from ''Music/EvilliousChronicles''

* EnchantedForest: The siblings become lost in a dark forest, where they met and are captured by a cannibalistic witch.

* CookingTheLiveMeal: On the same day the witch of the gingerbread house is about to carry out her long-announced plan of killing and cooking Hansel, she fires a baking oven and tells Gretel to crawl into the oven "to see if it is properly hot" for baking bread, because, as the narration assures us, she wants to lock up Gretel in the oven to bake and then eat her. Gretel however turns the tables on the witch by pushing her into the oven and locking the door. The witch's plan for Gretel contrast with her declared intention to kill Hansel before cooking him.

%%* MurderByCremation: The witch's death.

* HappilyEverAfter: The children escape the witch and take all her treasures and jewels home with them, and they find their stepmother has died and their father is overjoyed to see them. They live like kings from then on.

* CantSeeADamnThing: The witch has such bad eyesight, that she cannot see that Hansel is holding out a bone instead of his finger.

* DangerouslyGarishEnvironment: The GingerbreadHouse. It is after all an edible, candy-colored house that's implied to be designed to lure children[[note]]Or humans in general.[[/note]]. While this isn't outright said to be the purpose, the witch does decide to [[ImAHumanitarian eat the children]] once they arrive.

The next day, Hansel is in a fattening pen, and Gretel is a servant. It seems that the witch [[ImAHumanitarian eats children, once they are properly prepared]]. Hansel stalls for a while -- the old witch can't see well and pinches his finger to test his plumpness and he is able to trick her by holding out a bone -- but eventually she gets tired of waiting and decides to roast him and eat as he is, along with Gretel to compensate for the supposedly measly meal. She orders Gretel to crawl in to check the oven (intending, of course, to shove her in and cook her as well), but Gretel can tell what she has in mind, and pretends she doesn't know how. When the witch bends over to demonstrate it to her, Gretel [[HoistByHisOwnPetard shoves her in and slams the door]].

The two siblings then take all of the treasures and valuables from the late witch's house and return home. With the stepmother now dead and all the valuables they took from the witch, Hansel and Gretel live prosperously with their father from then on. Found in many variants across many cultures; [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/hanselgretel/other.html a list of some can be found here]].

The 19th century composer Engelbert Humperdinck adapted the fairy tale into an {{opera}} that premiered in 1893 and is still performed today. The opera in turn was adapted into a 1954 stop-motion animation film, and the 1987 live-action film from Creator/TheCannonGroup is a loose take on it.

* AdaptationalHeroism: In the opera, Hansel and Gretel's EvilStepmother is changed to their more sympathetic birth mother. She's still very hard on her children, but only because she's exhausted from their impoverished lifestyle. She does genuinely love her kids, is frightened when she realizes they could be in danger, and acompanies her husband to go searching for them.

** Humperdinck's opera takes this even further, as do later adaptations influenced by it. In the opera, their mother just sends them out to pick berries in exasperation after they accidentally spill a jug of milk that was the only food item left in the house; then they stay too long playing in the forest and get lost when it gets dark. The opera also has the witch turn children into gingerbread instead of straight-up eating their flesh, has her turned into gingerbread herself instead of just burning to death, and has all her previous child victims come back to life when she dies.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Befalls the witch, who gets cooked alive in her own oven by the siblings. In the opera, she turns into a giant gingerbread and is devoured by her resurrected victims.

* InnocentSoprano: In Engelbert Humperdinck's version.
** Although ChildrenAreInnocent is played straight with both of the leads, the soprano Gretel is much more virtuous and pious than her mezzo brother Hansel. Hansel constantly drags her into mischief and she follows only reluctantly.
** The Sand Fairy and the Dew Fairy, pure and all-loving spirits of nature, are sung by coloratura sopranos.

* LighterAndSofter: Humperdinck's opera, in comparison to the original tale.
** The siblings' horrible mother is now a sympathetic character who's just tired of living in poverty, and while she still gives her children an earful like any strict parent, she does genuinely care for them.
** The Witch doesn't bake children alive anymore, she just magically turns them into gingerbread. She herself also turns into gingerbread instead of being burned alive, and all of her victims come back to life after she is defeated.

* OdeToFood: Considering the family lives in hunger, there are plenty of food songs in the opera.

* ParentsAsPeople: Mother in the Humperdinck opera and the ''Cannon Movie Tales'' version based upon it. When she finds the children horsing around and the milk she was relying on is lost, she starts screaming at them in frustration, says some terrible things, and drives them out into the forest. However, her desperation, fear, and exasperation are understood by the viewer and she remains a sympathetic character. Her horror is palpable when she realizes they are now in danger, and the reunion at the end is a happy one usually void of any reference to her first scene.

* VillainSong: "Witch's Aria", sung by the Witch in the opera. Depending on the production, she either sings it as she flies off on her broom, or while she's preparing Hansel for dinner.

* WealthyEverAfter: They return with the witch's treasure.

* AdaptationalHeroism: In the opera, Hansel and Gretel's EvilStepmother is changed to their more sympathetic birth mother. She's still very hard on her children, but only because she's exhausted from their impoverished lifestyle. She does genuinely love her kids and is frightened when she realizes they could be in danger, and acompanies her husband to go searching for them.

%%* BigBad: The Witch.
%%* BrotherSisterTeam: Our heroes.

%%* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Befalls the witch.

%%* LighterAndSofter: The opera.

%%* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The witch's death.

* FatteningTheVictim: The witch uses her gingerbread house to lure children into her home in order to fatten and cook them.

* TheLostWoods: The kids' parents attempt to dump them in one so they won't have to worry about feeding them anymore.

* TheSandman: In the theater version, the Sandman appears to Hansel and Gretel in TheLostWoods, signaling that it is time for the children to sing their evening prayer and go to sleep (though a DreamBallet ensues). The Sandman's morning counterpart, the Dewman, appears to wake them up again with a very similar song as the curtain goes up on the third act.

A FairyTale originally recorded by the Creator/BrothersGrimm in 1812. It's in the PublicDomain, so here goes:

* BigBad: The Witch.
* BrotherSisterTeam: Our heroes.

* CreepyTwins: Hansel and Gretel, in the DarkerAndEdgier adaptations.
* CulturalTranslation: Being a fairy tale, this is often done. A good example of older fairy tale books in Eastern Europe having the witch be Literature/BabaYaga.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Befalls the witch.

* GingerbreadHouse: TropeMaker ''and'' TropeCodifier. Although in some versions, it's made of bread, and in others, it's simply a house that the siblings recognize as occupied by smoke from the chimney and are attracted to in an effort to beg for food, only to be caught.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The witch's death.

* KillItWithFire: The witch

* LighterAndSofter: The opera.

* MurderByCremation: The witch's death.
* NoNameGiven: The parents and the witch. Though in Humperdinck's opera, the parents are Peter and Gertrud and the witch is Rosine Leckermaul (literally, "Raisin Tastymuzzle").

* RuleOfThree

* SugaryMalice: The witch.
* TemporaryBulkChange: Hansel fattens up rapidly over what appears to be just a few days.

* FaceOnAMilkCarton: In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS10E12AboutABoy About a Boy]]", the witch no longer abducts children because of the Amber Alert system. Instead, she de-ages adults with a hex bag, fattens them up, and eats them.

[[caption-width-right:318:Hansel and Gretel meet the WickedWitch]]

A {{fairy tale}} originally recorded by the Creator/BrothersGrimm in 1812. It's in the PublicDomain, so here goes: